


Every Morning

by stellaver



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/M, Romance if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 03:15:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2452694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellaver/pseuds/stellaver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Magnhild Coffeehouse doesn't have many regulars that aren't senior citizens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Morning

**Author's Note:**

> I looked at the world this morning and thought "You know what there's not enough of? Renora coffee shop AUs"  
> Inspired in part by this book I read when I was younger called Coffeehouse Angel.

I.

Nora Valkyrie was a short, smiley girl who always smelled like coffee.

Not because she drank it a lot. No, she never lacked energy enough to light up a room. Rather, it was because of the coffee grounds that somehow always found their way to her pockets, as her family owned the Magnhild Coffeehouse.

It was an old world Scandinavian-style establishment coloured blue and red and brass. It offered no fancy bean flavours or energy drinks or espressos, or anything that was remotely trendy. This limited menu made their regulars senior citizens with a taste for gut-eating percolated coffee with sugar cubes and toasted salmon sandwiches.

Nora, however, didn’t mind the unpopularity. She happily spent every morning getting the shop ready to open and spent most evenings after school chatting with the customers, old men who used to work at the docks and still smell like fish ten years later and old ladies in their handmade sweaters who didn’t do much more than babble about candles and yarn.

A few of their younger regulars were few and far in between. There was a girl with curly black hair and a book tucked under her arm, the black of her stockings always peppered with cat hair. She always came on Thursday evenings after school to order a green tea and would sit by the window to people watch and read.

There was a pair of sisters that came in with their little black dog on Saturdays to meet and greet with some of the old folks there. The blonde one would get the strongest coffee they could manage while her sister was happy with cream and sugar.

One of their notable regulars was a boy from the flower shop next door that Nora always saw on her shift, and it always brought a smile to her face. He had a black ponytail and green sweaters, and a quiet demeanour as he ordered a coffee with extra cream.

He, however, didn’t start receiving coffee by first coming into the shop.

II.

Lie Ren was a tall, quiet boy who smelled like flowers.

Many admit it’s an odd smell for someone to have. Not many, after all, work in a flower shop as he does, but anyone who knows Ren will admit that the smell is befitting of him. His quiet demeanour and level head was apparent to anyone who spoke with him. The sweet scent of magnolias and roses and whatever else that decided to cling to his clothes that day.

His family’s shop, Storm Flowers and Gardens, was a quaint place, with its East Asian decorum and pastels of flowers. They were established though, providing flowers for festivals and parties.

Their soft tones clashed with the brassy and rich tones of the Nordic shop next door, but as opposite as their aesthetics were, the relationship between them was a happy one.The flower shop would provide a few blossoms to liven up the place during spring, when the shop was selling more tea than coffee, and the coffeehouse would reciprocate with cups of tea during the winter.

The relationship between the teenagers was just as amicable. She would shoot him a bright smile when their paths crossed in the morning or at school, but no words were exchanged between them for a long time after the shops came to be beside one another.

III.

It started quietly, during one of the colder spring mornings where there was still winter fog that was rolling in as the sun was rising, and Nora would look out the shop window to see Ren. His black ponytail draped itself over the collar of his green coat and every breath he exhaled sent a visible cloud into the air as he set out various pots of magnolias and lotuses.

It wasn’t the coldest of mornings, but Nora felt bad for him. The inside of the coffee shop was already warm with the steam from the percolator and her warm knitted sweater, toasty in comparison to the chill of the morning outside. Acting on it, she poured a large take-out cup of coffee, mixed in some cream and dropped in a cube of sugar, and gathered some of the day-old pastries from the day before into a zip-lock bag. Some scones, a Danish or two, and a few biscuits, all perfectly edible if a bit dry. Nora ate them all the time herself, and she couldn’t help the satisfied smile that slipped onto her face as she stepped out the door.

The chill of the air was exactly as she supposed, and she set the cup on the windowsill, grabbed the paper from the sidewalk, and shot a quick glance at Ren. The boy had his back mostly turned to her, but there was a tilt in his head that suggested that he was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

She didn’t know what else to do but to wink and flee inside with the paper.

IV.

The same exchange happened the next morning, and the morning after that. A cup of coffee and day-old pastries were left on the windowsill and were gone within minutes. She and Ren never spoke, only glances.

The fifth morning, however, Nora found something waiting for her. It was a lotus blossom, or a bud rather. It was small and barely blooming, but Nora picked it up carefully, her eyes brightening.

Ren was out there doing his routine organizing the flowers and watering them, but he wasn’t looking at her. His attention was focused on the flowers, but Nora had the sneaking feeling that there was a smirk on his casually composed face.

Nora grinned, slipping the flower into the pocket of her embroidered apron. But she didn’t set the coffee and pastries down like she had mornings before. She kept them clutched in her hand and walked over to Ren herself.

Facing him, it was obvious how much taller he was than her. The mornings had warmed up considerably, allowing him to trade out his coat for a sweater or two, and his black ponytail lounged over his shoulder like a silky black snake. His face remained composed, eyes containing a barely curious light if at that as they turned towards her.

When faced with his curious and sharp gaze, Nora’s smile didn’t waver. It remained bright and chipper despite the ungodly hour of the morning, and brighter still as she held out the coffee and pastries.

“Good morning!” She practically sang, just slight of forcing the drink into his hands.

He seemed taken aback, looking at the cup in his hands, before a small smile found its way onto his face, and he looked back up at her. “Your altruism is much appreciated. It feels like these have been keeping me awake through the morning.”

“My pleasure.” She gave him a silly curtsy.

“Your name is Nora, am I correct?” He asked carefully, taking an experimental sip of the coffee.

“Yep, and you’re Ren, right?” Nora returned the gesture by pulling a Danish from the bag of pastries and shoving half of it in her mouth.

“Correct.”

In the silence that followed, Nora wiped the crumbs off on her apron and he took another sip of coffee. It was a long silence, but not as awkward as it might’ve been, ended when Ren turned his attention back to the flowers as if he’d forgotten they were there.

“Oh, yeah,” Nora quirked her mouth to the side as she looked over the flowers. “Back to work.”

“It seems so,” Ren replied, looking back at her.

“Tomorrow morning?” Nora asked expectantly.

“Hm?”

“Same thing tomorrow morning,” Nora explained. “If you want extra cream or something, you can ask.”  
“Oh, nothing to change, Nora,” Ren replied. “It’s perfect.”

It was something, maybe the way her name sounded coming from him, but her smile grew wider. “Alright.”

With another fake curtsy, Nora headed back inside the coffee shop to finish her chores, but all the while she found herself distracted. She glanced out the window when she was putting the chairs down, but Ren had finished watering the flowers and gone inside his own shop.

V.

Just as promised, he met her outside for coffee the next day, and she brought a bigger bag of pastries for them to share. She did not, however, go immediately inside upon giving him his drink. The pair found themselves sitting at the wrought iron tables outside of the coffeeshop, and Nora found a stream of words bubbling from her mouth, long since gone from her control.

“See, I’ve seen you in the hallway, but I never really thought about approaching you—no offense, you really are charming—but not in that way!” Nora babbled through a bite of scone. “Maybe we can hang out more at school and not just these weird mornings where I’m putting off my chores—y’know, you’re really easy to talk to.”

She grinned, following it with a laugh, so bright and happy that Ren couldn’t help but to respond with what passed for him as a laugh, but was more of a faint chuckle.

“Nora, I’d be honoured to.”

The girl beamed at him, reaching out her her Danish to clink it against the one he had in his hand like a glass. "Perfect!"

And they did.


End file.
